If Not Hugging It Out, at Least Cutting a Rug

The White House on Thursday declined to say whether President Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton actually hugged at a party the night before on Martha’s Vineyard.

But they did dance.

Bill Clinton kicked things off when he stepped onto an empty dance floor to “I’ll Take You There.” Michelle Obama joined Mr. Clinton, followed by Mr. Obama, who shot a thumbs-up to the band, a local group called the Sultans. Mr. and Mrs. Obama later shared a slow dance to “At Last.”

The party, to celebrate the 70th birthday of Ann Jordan, the wife of Vernon E. Jordan Jr., a longtime Washington lobbyist and friend to the Clintons and the Obamas, drew even more interest than the usual social gathering with a guest list that includes current and former presidents and first ladies.

On Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton, a potential presidential candidate in 2016, called Mr. Obama to assure him that critical remarks she had made about his foreign policy in an interview with The Atlantic were not intended “to attack him, his policies or his leadership.”

In a statement, Mrs. Clinton’s spokesman said she looked forward to “hugging it out” with Mr. Obama at the party for Mrs. Jordan, which was held in a tent set up on the grounds of the Farm Neck Golf Club.

“It was huge smiles and total abandon on the dance floor,” said one person who attended the party. “You’d never know there was any discord.”

This person briefly spotted Mrs. Clinton on the dance floor, but said that Mr. Obama and Mr. Clinton mostly dominated as a “mosh pit” formed around them.

As the evening went on, and “Blurred Lines” came to a close, the former and current presidents, who famously clashed during the contentious 2008 Democratic primary, danced to Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up.”